Bognor Regis shopping arcade redevelopment plans finalised
The finalised £8m proposal was published following feedback from a public consultation that concluded in April.The council approved the project's funding in 2023 as part of the Regis Quarter regeneration scheme, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.If planning permission is granted the Bognor Regis Business Improvement District section of the property, accessible from Belmont Street, will be demolished.It will be replaced with retail space and an entrance to the new apartments.Two other sections of the arcade would be replaced, including a section damaged in a fire in the 1930s.The existing upper floor entrance on Belmont Street will be removed but entrances from York Road and High Street would be kept.
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The Independent
16 minutes ago
- The Independent
Homeowners could be hit with new tax as Chancellor aims to fill ‘£41 billion shortfall'
A Treasury minister has not ruled out hitting owners of high-value houses with capital gains tax (CGT) when they sell their family home. Chancellor Rachel Reeves is reported to be considering ending the current exemption from CGT for primary residences as she seeks ways to raise cash in the face of dire warnings about the state of the public finances. Such a move would see higher-rate taxpayers pay 24 per cent of any gain in the value of their home, while basic rate taxpayers would be hit with an 18 per cent levy. The Times reported that under the proposals being considered for the autumn budget, the private residence relief would end for properties above a certain threshold. The threshold is still under consideration but a £1.5 million starting point would hit around 120,000 homeowners who are higher-rate taxpayers with capital gains tax bills of £199,973, the newspaper reported. Treasury minister Torsten Bell declined to rule out hitting people selling their homes with CGT, insisting any potential changes were matters for the Chancellor and would be set out at a budget. Asked to rule out the move, the pensions minister told broadcasters: 'Working people and people's living standards is what this Government is all about. 'We've seen wages rise more in the first 10 months of this Government than the first 10 years of the last Conservative government. 'But of course, as you know, questions for tax are for the budget and they're for chancellors.' Ending primary residence relief could deter people from selling their homes, slowing the housing market and could have a particular impact for older people looking to downsize. The Labour government has ruled out increasing income tax, employees' national insurance contributions and VAT, restricting Ms Reeves' options when it comes to raising money. The scale of the challenge facing her in the autumn budget was illustrated by the NIESR economic think tank warning this month that Ms Reeves is set for a £41 billion shortfall on her self-imposed rule of balancing day-to-day spending with tax receipts in 2029-30. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch hit out at the Chancellor's 'disastrous economic mismanagement' and said the Government was 'stuck in a doom loop of low growth and higher taxes'. She said: 'We should be cutting spending, cutting taxes, and backing the makers who keep our country going.' Any move to hit expensive properties would be likely to impact more heavily on London than other parts of the country. Analysis by Rightmove suggested 10.9 per cent of homes for sale in the capital would exceed a £1.5 million threshold, compared with 1.6 per cent outside London. Rightmove's Colleen Babcock said: 'In essence, this would predominantly be a tax on the most expensive areas of London and the South East. 'The London market is already feeling the effects of taxation more acutely than other parts of England, and this is likely to deter some moves at the upper end.'
BBC News
17 minutes ago
- BBC News
Rejected Dundee University recovery plan included more job cuts
A Dundee University recovery plan which included a proposal for 400 additional job cuts has been rejected by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).The cash-strapped institution had suggested a further 220 voluntary redundancies and 170 compulsory redundancies. This is in addition to a previously-announced voluntary scheme to shed 300 jobs. The 105-page confidential recovery plan, which has been seen by BBC Scotland News, said the university's current operating costs are £25-30m per month. The university said the SFC, which is an arms-length public body, had now written to "outline a different proposed direction".It added this would be considered by its court "at the earliest opportunity." The university currently faces a £35m deficit for this financial financial woes initially came to light last November when the then principal Prof Iain Gillespie revealed an eight-figure deficit and "inevitable" were originally estimated at 632 job losses but later revised to about 300 through the use of a voluntary redundancy scheme.A damning report in June into the university's financial collapse led to the resignations of its interim principal Prof Shane O'Neill and two senior members of its governing body. The Gillies Report said university bosses and its governing body failed multiple times to identify the worsening crisis and continued to overspend instead of taking University said the report had been a "chastening experience and triggered a time for deep self-reflection". The Courier has reported that the SFC believes it is "not appropriate" for fundamental decisions that would "bind the university for decades" to be made by its interim leadership has quoted a letter from the SFC to Ian Mair, the university's acting chair of court, which said such decisions should not be taken "without the existence of an approved, and properly consulted upon, university strategic plan."The rejected recovery plan proposed "a range of workforce reduction measures" including natural turnover, retirement and flexible it added that further redundancies would be required "to achieve the scale and shape of the change of the workforce that is required."It proposed 50 further voluntary redundancies in November and another 170 in March.A further 170 compulsory redundancies were forecast "with notice given in May 2026." The plan also outlined selling four university-owned properties, including the five-bedroom University House, previously used by Prof Gillespie and his predecessor, to raise £2.2m. In addition, the plan details restructuring of the university's executive group and four new Faculties replacing its existing eight university said it had received a £10m SFC grant to "ease the immediate cash issues" and will receive a further £40m of support over the next two financial is also set to receive a £12m SFC loan in recovery plan document said: "Currently, the university is unable to secure any additional commercial funding through a commercial bank and is therefore very reliant on the support from the Scottish government which may have to be brought forwards to help support cashflow whilst the plan is matured and set in action." A spokesperson for the Scottish Funding Council said: "We received the university's proposed recovery plan on 11 August and our teams have developed a response as a matter of priority."We are committed to supporting its return to a position of financial health that will ensure this continues for future generations."It's important that the foundations for this are solid. "This is why we are prepared to fund the university over a defined period of fundamental longer term strategic planning informed by constructive engagement with staff and students."A Dundee University spokesman confirmed it had submitted a recovery plan to the SFC last said: "The SFC has now written to outline a different proposed direction, which will now be considered by court at the earliest opportunity."
The Guardian
17 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Frank Strang obituary
The serial entrepreneur Frank Strang, who has died aged 67 of oesophageal cancer, seized an unpremeditated opportunity to deliver the first licensed spaceport for vertical launches in western Europe, overcoming multiple barriers along the way. Having acquired a disused RAF radar station at the most northerly point in the Shetland Islands a decade earlier – without any thought of spaceports – by 2017 Strang had realised the potential of his asset as the government sought to promote a UK launch capacity. Long-haired and cowboy-booted, Strang weaved his way through the corridors of power to persuade government, regulators and private investors that the answer lay in the former Saxa Vord base on the island of Unst. Step by step, he and his small team overcame safety, planning and political challenges while walking a financial tightrope to keep the vision alive. One of the more unlikely delays came from Historic Environment Scotland on grounds that the launch site would mean demolition of a former radar station that had been designated 'a monument of national significance'. The quango eventually withdrew its objection, recognising the spaceport's national importance. SaxaVord Spaceport was licensed in 2023 by the Civil Aviation Authority and the first launch is due within the coming months, with international clients from both civil and military sectors signed up. It is poignant that Strang will not be around to witness the climax to his endeavours; his cancer diagnosis came just two months before his death. The Saxa Vord RAF base had closed in 2006 and was bought shortly afterwards by Frank and his then wife, Debbie. The site included 23 houses and became an eco-tourism centre with accommodation, restaurant and bar. They diversified into a facilities company, providing up to 2,000 oil workers at the Sullom Voe terminal on the Shetland mainland with accommodation and catering, and founded the UK's most northerly gin distillery, on Unst, in 2014. The lightbulb moment came when the UK government commissioned the Sceptre report to advise on potential for establishing a vertical launch site in the north of Scotland. It concluded that 'the Shetland Isles has the best orbital access, but the remote site means it is logistically the most challenging'. The Strangs, along with a former RAF fighter pilot, Scott Hammond, in 2017 founded Shetland Space Centre (of which I later became a director); it was renamed SaxaVord Spaceport in 2021. The challenges, as well as the remote location, also included the fact that the Scottish government put its weight and money behind a virgin site on the Sutherland mainland, close to land owned by Anders Holch Povlsen, a Danish businessman who has extensive interests in the north of Scotland. Povlsen's well-founded environmental objections to the Sutherland option developed into wholehearted enthusiasm for SaxaVord and, as the need for investment grew to fund its construction, his sustained support and faith in Strang's ability to deliver kept the show on the road. 'Against the odds,' said Povlsen, 'and with many headwinds, even a few unfair ones, he built the solid foundations of what will likely become Europe's largest commercial spaceport. No matter what happens, many people, including me, are going to stay right behind Frank, doing our utmost to make sure SaxaVord becomes the success it's set up for.' Hammond, who has succeeded Frank as chief executive, said: 'We are determined to make the UK Europe's leader in vertical launch spaceflight. That will be Frank's legacy for Shetland, for Scotland and the UK.' Frank was born and spent his early years in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where his father, Tom, was a physical education teacher. His mother, Barbara, also a teacher, died when he was 13. The family had its roots in the Highlands, and Frank completed his schooling at Dingwall academy, Ross-shire. He then graduated in PE from Jordanhill College of Education, Glasgow. After a spell teaching, he was accepted for training at the RAF College Cranwell, and joined the service as a physical education officer latterly based at Lossiemouth, in Moray, where he met Debbie Hope, a fellow RAF officer; they married in 1991. Part of Frank's role lay in community relations, and in 1994, the year of his departure from the RAF, he was appointed MBE for charitable fundraising. He was also coach to the Scottish freestyle ski team for five years. He left the service after suffering an injury in a parachuting accident. His first business venture was to promote the US region of New England as a winter sports destination for UK skiers. This took Frank into a project to redevelop a former military airport near Boston, which opened his eyes to similar possibilities in the UK, as the Ministry of Defence disposed of property assets. These were pursued with mixed results but his most fateful decision proved to be the purchase of Saxa Vord. The Shetland Islands council chief executive Maggie Sandison, who was involved from the outset, noted that the project was conceived and constructed with the community in mind: 'Frank's commitment to a spaceport education strategy created opportunities for children and young people to engage with astronauts, attend space camps and participate in national space competitions.' Frank and Debbie, who is deputy chief executive of Shetland Space Centre, separated two years ago. Recently, he married Dani Morey. She survives him, along with Tom and Emily, the children of his first marriage. Frank Strang, entrepreneur, born 3 August 1958; died 13 August 2025
